Help 80 Secondary Pupils in Niger Read and Write

A big challenge for our non-profit, “Les Amis de Hampaté Bâ” is to help kids whose parents have to make tough choices between sending their kids to school or putting food on the table.

 One of our main goals is to offer an education at the innovative Hampaté Bâ School to some of these underprivileged youngsters. However, it is difficult to increase the literacy rate amongst students who have not learned to read or write adequately in their first years.

 They therefore carry a heavy handicap as they try to progress to higher levels, where literacy and numeracy become tools for learning rather than ends in themselves. Their grasp of basic cognitive skills is also very low. Many of them struggle endlessly and parents who witness such low achievement levels often decide that the added value of schooling is not worth their sacrifices and pull their children out of school.

 Our charity’s objective is to put a stop to this vicious cycle. We want Ali, Zara, and Alassane to stay in school and learn, not to struggle, suffer and be pulled out. We thought perhaps, in addition to our tutoring program, that ART could come to the rescue of our struggling students and much to our surprise, it has !

 With our help, the Art Teacher at Hampaté Bâ, Mr. Ati Komi has developed strategies that harness the power of observation, analysis, and communication through his art lessons. Students observe the visual content of a picture, and then add new ideas and information from their personal experiences to create newly invented narratives. Using this three-step process of observing, interpreting, and creating, the students are able to generate ideas, organize thoughts, and communicate more effectively.

« I choose an image with many details, with people and/or animals, and colors and I show it to them. "It is nice. I like it" is not the answer I am looking for. I look for answers to such questions as:

• What shapes do you see? Do they remind you of anything?
• What colors do you see? How do those colors make you feel?
• What is the focal point of the image? How did the artist bring your attention to the focal point?
• If you were living in the picture, what would you see? What would you smell? What would you hear? »

 Alassane, a shy 6^th grader. mentions : « Writing used to be very hard for me, but now it is not that hard. All I have to do is to look at the picture our art teacher shows us and describe some things I see. »

 The director of the school, Mr Hassane Baro, has this to say about the art classes at Hampaté Bâ.

 «These art lessons, which I was initially very skeptical about, have placed several of our struggling students where they've never been before: in a position of power! »

 We hire some of the best and most experienced teachers who understand the root causes of the education problems and how to tackle these problems. We need these teachers to engage students through more effective tutoring practices and improve learning conditions for these underserved students. We need your donations to support these teachers and their tutoring and art programs.

 WHY DONATE ?

You will help introduce underprivileged children to the power of artistic expression.

You will help them learn and do better in school through experienced tutoring.

You will give them a chance to change their lives.

You will give them the precious gift of education.

 THANK YOU !